Wal-Mart U.S. same-store sales up in last 3 months
Walmart U.S., by far the company’s largest business, has posted nine consecutive quarters of same-store sales declines. While such sales rose in July, the last month of the fiscal second quarter, same-store sales fell 0.9 percent in the quarter.Walmart U.S. same-store sales continued to rise in August and September, Simon said at Wal-Mart’s 18th annual meeting for the investment community in Rogers, Arkansas, which is also being broadcast over the Internet. Traffic in stores has increased, led by traffic in the food department, Simon said.He also said that Walmart U.S. is working on lowering prices for shoppers by a cumulative $2 billion over the next two years as it works on trying to get them to shop more often.The money for the price reduction plan will come from changes such as reducing new store and remodeling costs as well as improving productivity and efficiency in areas such as stores, distribution, transportation and marketing.
